


Where There's A Will

by Nary



Category: Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly
Genre: Chromatic Yuletide, Consensual Infidelity, Developing Friendships, F/F, Female Character of Color, Female Friendship, Female-Centric, Holding Hands, Misses Clause Challenge, Possibly Asexual Character, Pre-Femslash, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 19:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2785439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nary/pseuds/Nary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloë pays an unexpected visit to Dominique's house to bring news about Henri's will, and perhaps for other reasons as well.</p><p>Set prior to Good Man Friday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where There's A Will

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abluestocking](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abluestocking/gifts).



Dominique was expecting a visit from Henri, so when the Viellard coach drew up at her little cottage, she naturally hurried to the door to welcome him, pulling her peignoir close about her but leaving it just open enough to tantalize him with the promise of more soon to come.

But it was not her tall, plump, gently-spoken lover who stood before her, but his diminutive blonde wife, Chloë Viellard.  Dominique was surprised to see her ─ while they were on good terms, certainly better than she had feared when Henri had told her that he had to marry, it was unexpected for Chloe to arrive unaccompanied at her doorstep, especially past dark.

"Good evening," Chloë said, jolting her out of her momentary silence.  "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"No, not at all! Would you like to come in?" Dominique was relieved that at least she wouldn't be expected to offer Chloë food ─ it wouldn't do for a white woman to sit and eat with a colored woman, even if there was no one to see.  She drew her filmy robe closed more tightly, knowing that it might embarrass her guest.

"Thank you."  Chloë stepped into the small home her husband had purchased for his mistress.  "Henri sends his regrets.  He is drawing up his will."

Dominique's hand fluttered to her mouth in shock.  "Oh, mon dieu!  Is he all right?"

"Perfectly well," Chloë reassured her.  "But we dined with our lawyer this evening, and one thing led to another, and he decided he needed to make... certain changes."  She smoothed her skirts, glancing around the room.  "May we sit, so I can explain?"

Dominique, still feeling a little weak-kneed from Chloë's abrupt announcement, was glad to take a seat.  "Why couldn't he explain it to me himself?"

"You know Henri ─ he has no head for money or the managing of it," Chloë said without rancor.  "I thought it likely that you would receive a clearer account of the situation from me."

Dominique had to acknowledge that Chloë was probably right about that.  Henri's main interests were his books, his collection of insects, and of course their daughter Charmian.  Thinking about the little girl, asleep in her room, caused Minou to worry what this business of changes to wills and financial matters could mean for her daughter ─ for them both.  "Please, don't keep me in suspense any longer!" she begged.

"I had no intention of worrying you," Chloë said, her blue eyes widening behind her thick spectacles.  Perhaps it had honestly not occurred to her how this visit would appear to Dominique.  It wasn't difficult to believe ─ Chloë was cool and dispassionate by nature, and was often surprised at the strong emotions other people felt.  "The news is nothing that will bring harm or hardship to you or your daughter ─ rather the contrary, in fact.  You understand that Henri cannot leave you all, or even part, of his estate.  For one thing, his family and mine would be incensed.  But more importantly, there are laws in place to prevent him from doing so."

Dominique nodded slowly.  It didn't come as a surprise to her that Henri couldn't legally leave her much, or anything ─ that was at least partly why white men bought valuable gifts for their plaçées during their lives.  Houses, jewels, slaves, and land would all help to ensure that should anything happen to her protector, she would be able to survive without him.  It was how her mother had managed when M'sieu Janvier had died.  "Very well... what has he done, then?"

"In conjunction with his lawyer, he has drafted a will to leave his entire estate, property and investments and goods, to me."  Chloë waited as if she expected Dominique to react, to say something, but Minou had no idea what she was supposed to say.   Thank you for taking the riches of the man I love? 

After a pause, apparently realizing that more clarification was required, Chloë continued.  "Henri is entrusting me to take care of you and your child ─ or children, if more follow Charmian ─ if anything should happen to him."

"God forbid," Minou exclaimed reflexively, dreading the thought of her beloved Henri gone forever.

"Yes, of course," Chloë said, but without the same degree of fear or horror.  "We all hope that this will not come to pass for many years yet." 

Life could be so fleeting, though, Dominique thought, remembering friends who had fallen sick from yellow fever or typhus, seemingly healthy one day and gone the next.  She thought of her baby son who had died so soon after his birth, and of the dangers that lurked in New Orleans for the unwary.  The thought of losing Henri was impossible to bear, and yet in all likelihood, if she lived long enough herself, he would be taken from her one day. 

Chloë seemed to have a sense that Dominique was upset, and placed one cold, pale hand on her arm.  "I offered to do this, Minou.  You are more Henri's wife than I will ever be.  Your children may be the only children he ever has.  I want to make sure that you are protected, for their sake, and for his..."  She drew her hand back suddenly, realizing that she had crossed an invisible line.

Minou wanted to reach out to the fragile-looking girl ─ she was not yet eighteen ─ and say something, anything, that would set her at ease.  It was in her nature to want to make people comfortable, but this was something more than that.  Chloë always seemed so alone, so isolated.  She was beautiful, but Minou knew that few men had showed much interest in courting her seriously.  She kept people at arm's length, as if she felt uncomfortable allowing anyone too close.  The marriage with Henri was arranged by their families, and Minou remembered all too well that both partners had gone into it with reservations.  Yet occasionally they shared quiet conversation – where Chloë's interest in matters scientific overlapped with Henri's naturalist tendencies, they could talk for hours, and they certainly both loved books.  Surely, she thought, they might eventually become fond of one another, even if it was never a passionate relationship... not like what she shared with Henri, but companionable at least.  She wondered why Chloë thought they might never have children, but she was unsure if to ask such a question would be intolerably rude or hurtful.

"That's very kind of you," she said instead.  "There aren't many wives who would be so generous towards their husbands' plaçées."  Some, indeed, harbored an intense bitterness and jealousy towards the colored women their husbands chose as romantic partners, while most pretended to ignore the affairs.   Chloë did neither of these things, but instead had been polite and even oddly grateful to Dominique whenever they encountered one another.  Certainly, as far as Minou knew, it was almost unheard-of for a white woman to make plans to dispose of her husband's estates and wealth to his colored children.

Chloë tilted her head in quiet acknowledgement of the thanks.  "There will have to be some subterfuge in place, of course.  I cannot hand over land and property outright without drawing the attention of the authorities, but we can stage false auctions to permit you or your children to 'purchase' what is yours.   I trust we shall have ample time to iron out the details."

It all sounded incredibly far-fetched to Dominique, as if an angel had descended from heaven to hand her sacks full of gold.  She lived quite comfortably now and, with her mother's harsh but sensible advice, had tried to plan for a future where she would no longer have Henri's support, whether because he left her or died, a future where the security of her family would depend on the investments and savings she had made during the years of gifts from her protector.  In truth, she hadn't heeded her mother's words as well as she ought to have done, and her own savings were not immense ─ she loved fashionable clothing too much to exercise great restraint on her spending.  To imagine that she might not have to worry about years of poverty, or at least diminished circumstances, was a relief.  And she found that she trusted Chloë to make good on her word.

Reaching out to bridge the gap between them, she took Chloë's hand in hers.  It felt daring, to initiate such intimate contact, and yet Chloë did not look shocked or pull away this time.  Instead she squeezed Minou's hand, holding on for dear life.  "You do so much for Henri," she said softly.  "So much that I... cannot do.  You make him happy."

"Surely there are times when you're happy together?" Minou suggested.  "Perhaps those are the moments you can build on."  She would never have imagined, before Henri wed, that one day she would be having a tête-a-tête with his wife, trying to encourage their relationship to grow and flourish, but she felt secure in the knowledge that Henri would not abandon her, and Chloë would not force him to make a choice between them.  As such, she found that she wanted them both to be happy when they were together, at least as much as they could.

"Someday I hope we can be friends, but I told him on our wedding night it could never become more intimate than that," Chloë said bluntly.  "He accepted my conditions."

Dominique had never asked Henri much about his relationship with Chloë, but from hints he had dropped she had guessed that they did not regularly share a bed.  "My dear, if it's not prying to ask, have the two of you  ever lain together?"  She wondered for a moment if she needed to explain more clearly, but surely Chloë's scientific texts had informed her about what men and women did together in bed.

Chloë's pink lips pursed into a little moue of displeasure, and if she had been a more demonstrative woman Dominique felt that she might have shuddered.  "That sort of physical contact is distasteful to me," she said after a moment.  "I don't know why.  I know to... to be his wife properly, I should submit, but... the very idea of it makes me feel ill."

"Oh, cherie," Dominique said, her heart going out to the girl.  "I know it can be scary."  Not only the act itself, she thought, remembering how nervous she had been on her first night with Henri, but all that could follow it ─ pregnancy, illness, and, all too often for women, death.  Perhaps seeing friends and family meet such fates had made Chloë decide to avoid succumbing to them herself.  Some husbands would have overlooked her objections and forced her, but Henri was far too kind-hearted for that.  "Perhaps if you began slowly, you might be able to work up to it one day..."

Chloë shook her head, cutting her off.  "I don't wish to, though.  I don't see any reason why I should ─ Henri is happy with you, he has a child with you, and he isn't demanding sex with me, so why would I try to fulfill that role when I'm unsuited to it?"

"Why do you think you're unsuited to it?" Dominique asked curiously.  This seemed like more than ordinary maidenly apprehension, and it certainly wasn't a religious streak ─ Chloë was far too scientifically-minded to take a nun's vow of chastity.  Another idea occurred to her. "Is there something about that sort of... physical intimacy that hurts you?"

Chloë's cheeks flushed, giving her a rosy glow.  "No.  I've conducted certain, ah, experiments on my own.  The physical sensations weren't unpleasant, but not as thrilling as I thought they might be, considering all the medical texts feel the need to explain those sections in Greek or Latin," she added dryly.

Dominique giggled, and quickly covered her mouth.  "Oh, my dear, I don't mean to laugh.  Is it because they don't want people to know these scandalous secrets?"

"Only the right sort of people," Chloë said, her delicate chin sticking out stubbornly.  "They're writing for other educated men."

"Typical!  But perhaps your experiments lacked the necessary..." She paused, hand fluttering in the air as she sought the mot juste.  "...spark."

"Perhaps I lack the necessary spark," Chloë said quietly.  "I don't know.  I can tell that Henri doesn't produce any such combustion for me, nor have any of the few gentlemen who courted me before him."  She glanced over at Dominique, her eyes unreadable behind her thick lenses.  "I don't know if someone else could."

It unsettled her not to know, Minou could tell.  Chloë wanted to understand how everything worked, why things were the way they were.  She wanted order in her world, and love, passion, desire ─ these were emotions that created disorder and complications, yet she was trying to understand them too.  Minou was so wrapped up in her musings that she almost missed the implications of what Chloë had said.  "Do you mean you've thought of taking a lover, cherie?"

"No, no," Chloë said hastily, "nothing that sordid."  Immediately she winced, glancing sidelong at Dominique again.  "I don't mean to suggest that what you and Henri have is sordid," she explained.  "It's different.  I'm sorry."

"It's perfectly all right," Minou assured her.  "If you mean that a more casual liaison would be distasteful to you,  I quite agree."  In all her years with Henri, she had never strayed.  She might flirt with other gentlemen ─ Benjamin's friend Hannibal Sefton was very sweet and charming, for instance ─ but she never allowed matters to go any further than that. 

"Yes," Chloë said with relief.  "I wouldn't want to attempt something like that with just anyone.  Especially not with someone I didn't know or trust very well."  She looked as if she might want to say more, but fell into an awkward silence instead.

"I hope you know you can trust me, darling," Dominique told her, the endearment coming as naturally to her lips as though she was speaking to one of her close friends.  "Goodness knows ─ or Henri can tell you ─ I'm very discreet!"

Chloë's blue eyes widened.  "I would very much like to, Minou.  I'm afraid it takes me a long time to learn to trust someone... but I feel I'm already partway there with you.  Otherwise I wouldn't have told you all of this," she added, blushing.

Dominique gave her a dazzling smile.  "Wonderful!  Then we can be friends?"

"Yes," Chloë said at once.  "Friends," she repeated, trying out the word as though it was unfamiliar.  "And I like this," she added more shyly.  "Sitting with you, just holding hands and talking.  Is that odd?"

"Not at all," Dominique assured her. "It's something girlfriends often do, when they're close."  She raised the girl's delicate fingers to her lips for a kiss, wondering as she did so what Henri would make of this sight.  Chloë looked as if her eyes might pop out of her head if they weren't being held there by her spectacles, but she smiled as well ─ a fleeting, nervous smile but a smile nevertheless.  It transformed her face from its usual icy beauty to a more girlish prettiness. 

"Perhaps someday, dear Minou," she murmured, "you can show me other things girlfriends do together."

Dominique tried to envision having her protector's wife over for tea and gossip with her friends, most of whom were also plaçées, and failed.  It would never be comfortable for anyone involved.  But together on their own, she and Chloë seemed to be able to set aside matters of propriety and class and race, not worrying about what it might look like to anyone else.  This unexpected friendship wasn't like anything she'd imagined, but it felt right.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [naryrising](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/naryrising) if you want to ask questions, make requests, or chat!


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